


Side Effects

by LordPuzzle



Category: Persona 5 Royal, Persona Series
Genre: Children, F/M, Family, Future Fic, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mild Language, Oh god, Pregnancy, Real World Powers, babys first fic, but still sorrry shiho, i have no planned upload schedule by the way, it's not bad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22960372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordPuzzle/pseuds/LordPuzzle
Summary: Makoto was, as usual, the first to notice.The Metaverse is gone, but Personas are not. How are the Ex-Phantom Thieves meant to handle their future lives when they start combusting on a daily basis?-This is my own take on our favourite Thieves dealing with the concept of real world powers! It will include ships, headcanons, poor writing and a very gentle murder of canon. (Also, this fic will extend into the future, so be prepared for adult Thief antics!)
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann, Makoto Nijima/Ryuji Sakamato, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Yusuke Kitagawa/Haru Okumura
Comments: 56
Kudos: 172





	1. Makoto

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first fic! I have no set upload schedule, but will try as best as I can to keep this going. Constructive criticism is welcome!

Makoto was, as usual, the first to notice.

She and the Phantom Thieves were sat in a booth of the closed Leblanc, in ranging levels of melancholy. Akira was fresh into his sentence of juvi, and the all-encompassing lack of his presence, his easy kindness and remarkable snark, had deflated their team like some sad balloon inching its way to the ground. Makoto, acting as his substitute and feeling deeply unprepared, knew her friends well enough to read their lack of energy. Futaba was rocking on the booth seat, twirling her long orange locks between her fingers and pointedly not letting anyone see her eyes, despite Yusuke's attempts at conversation. Haru was sat painfully straight, like a rubber band on the verge of snapping, swivelling her head around to everyone else with such desperate, watery eyes that Makoto's gut twinged in sympathy. Ryuji was jiggling his leg compulsively, but had given up on using his energy for any constructive ideas by the lack of a response from the rest of the group. Particularly Ann.

Especially Ann.

Everyone knew that she and Akira had started dating (after a very unfortunate walk-in situation when he forgot about inviting Yusuke around Leblanc for the afternoon, and neither he nor Ann heard the poor, innocent artist walking up the stairs). It was only natural she would be the most affected by his unfair sentencing, but to see someone so chipper, so...unshakable as Ann be reduced to crying and dark, lonely looks was hard to take. It was impossible for Makoto to act like she was in control; like any of them were.

She sighed deeply. "C'mon, team. There's something we can do, we just need to brainstorm. Ryuji, have you had any luck getting to his contacts from Shibuya?"

Clearly pleased by some action, Ryuji snapped to attention and grinned with such force Makoto thought it must've been painful. Still, she offered a small smile back as he started explaining.  
"Yeah, the second I said the name 'Kira round here, a bunch of people's heads shot up. Didn't realise how popular he really was... Anyway, there's the local medic, Tae Tekemi, that fake gunsmith we went to one time called Iwai, and this politician guy. Yoshida?" He shrugged, clearly not sure what they could contribute. Makoto nodded, as if she did.

"Good. I've gotten Mishima from your class, and Mrs. Kawakami as well, and both seemed eager to help."

"Hifumi, also." Yusuke said, not looking away from Futaba. Makoto blinked at him.

"...the shogi girl from your school?"

Yusuke nodded, not looking away from Futaba. "Hifumi Togo. She has some press presence which she offered, as well as anything else she can do."

Makoto nodded again. "Well, Mishima offered to start a petition raising awareness about his case, and if Yoshida uses some political chatter, along with Hifumi tagging it onto one of her broadcasts, it should hopefully gain some traction. Maybe the public can help us...And Sis is still building up a case for his rel-"

"What case?" Ann snapped. Her sad eyes were gone, Panther's angry fire glinting in their place. "He confessed. More than that, he refused visiting hours because he wants us to 'move on.' What the hell makes you think he would angle for an early release?"

The silence was cloying. Makoto couldn't answer, because she was right. They had all argued against the officers to win Akira normal visiting hours, and Ann and Sojiro were permitted to take one container of cold Leblanc special curry to him. Naturally, the rest of them waited outside by the car. After half an hour of standing there, Ann stormed out of the door, tears streaming down her face and pointedly shoving her way inside the car. Sojiro glumly followed behind, still holding onto the curry and a new, scrap of paper. "He refused...He, uh - oh, just read it for yourselves." They were all so lost and angry, and Akira's attempt at reasoning in the scrap of paper ("It's best you act normally" "try and move on") did little to ease them. So what could Makoto say? Nothing. And Ann knew it.

"He made the choice to drop us when we wanted him most, and now we're sitting here with no plan, no ideas, just whatever half-formed bullshit you can come up with and zero concrete ways to get him out." She was hunched over the table, glaring at a paralysed Makoto, clearly warming to her subject.

"Ann, Mako-chan is trying. Getting angry won't-" Haru tried to interject, but Ann switched round to her instead.

"I don't care about trying! It's not enough! God knows what's happening to him in there, and none of us can do anything to help!" She slammed her palm down on the table, and Futaba shrieked. Ann's rage broke, stunned out of her ranting.

"Ann, lower your voice!" Yusuke hissed, gripping his arm around a crying Futaba and training his icy glare at her. Ann, for her part, dropped her head, stuttering out an apology to their pint-sized hacker.

Ryuji swallowed audibly. "It's ok. Well no, you should know everyone here is missing him too and we're all tryin' our best, but we get it." He looked between Haru and Makoto, like looking for confirmation.

"It's ok, Ann-chan. There is a way to get him out of there, we just need to keep our cool and work together! Maybe we could use a proper break?" Haru was tiredly smiling at the model, a shadow of what her normal sweetness was, but smiling nonetheless.

Makoto closed her empty notebook and pen, sighing. "A break sounds excellent. But Ann... are you doing ok? I know this must be hard, but you know you can talk to us, right?" She leant across the table, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Makoto immediately yelped, pulling her hand away.

"Gah, Ann, why are you burning up!? What..." Ann, who had covered her face with her hand after her outburst, snapped to attention. "I'm not hot! I feel normal, just... missing him, that's all. It all caught up with me." She touched her forehead, worrying at her lower lip.

The rest of the table had all zeroed in on the situation. Futaba had crawled out of Yusuke's arm, touching Ann's arm and reacting the same way, clutching her hand and narrowing her red-rimed eyes at her palm. Ryuji and Haru had moved closer, particularly Ryuji, who was examining Makoto's hand for burns, whilst Yusuke inched away reflexively.

Ann giggled weakly at the attention. "U..uh, eyes up here, f-folks! Haha..."

"What's going on, Queen?" Ryuji dropped her recovering hand, and looked at her for an analysis. Makoto chewed her lip, thoughtfully.

"Is it medical? Ann, have you been eating normally the past few days? The emotional strain could easily lead to a lack of appetite, so maybe that lead to a temperature?" Haru questioned the model, but before she could answer, Yusuke butted in.

"No, her appetite is not to blame. When I first approached Leblanc this morning, I saw Ann with two stuffed crepes eating quite happily. Perhaps it is a sugar overload?" Ann spluttered, turning beet-red as she tried to defend herself. Futaba, clearly revived by the statement, gave a quiet cackle whilst muttering 'Inari' under her breath. Ryuji rolled his eyes, for once, instead looking at their distracted stand-in leader.

She was in Queen mode, looking not at the now loudly complaining Ann, but instead at her own delicate fingers, the cogs turning with every twitch of her lip, the creases in her brow, her bright and flashing eyes.

"Queen?" He wispered.

She looked at him, her lips in a firm line. She inhaled and rubbed her finger tips together. She continued the circling of her fingers and slow breathing. The whole table was watching her, interested, confused.

And then, a blue sphere of power appeared between her rotating fingers.

The reaction was immediate. Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke and Haru yelled and leapt backwards, clamouring towards the bar. Futaba grabbed her laptop and leapt up the stairs to Akira's room three at a time.

"Makoto, wha- Nevermind! Get rid of that, now! Safely!" Yusuke, crammed in between Haru and a barstool, had lost the normal composure he maintained, looking more like he had just stumbled next to a land mine. Makoto, still circling her palms, looked up at him with similar fear.

"I don't know how! I didn't even think it would work, I was just guessing! I wasn't prepared to hold onto a Frei in the real world!" She was barely restraining her voice from a shriek, trying to keep her palms circling around the hissing blue orb.

"Is that what was happening to ME!?" Ann shouted, who, clearly at the end of her rope with this revelation, was holding a barstool above her head as if she was about to beat the Frei out of Makoto's hands.

"I guess!? Oh, for God's sake, the one time we need Morgana, or even Akira..! I thought we lost our Persona powers!" Makoto was rapidly losing control. Was it shaking more? Was it that big before? What happens if she lets go? Why is it even possible to be holding her Persona's power outside the Metaverse?

"Makoto." Ryuji a voice sounded oddly distant. "Makoto, Just breathe, your not getting enough air." He dropped in front of her, so ridiculously close to the nuclear attack that it made his bleached blond hair glow blue. She breathed shakily, and Ryuji nodded.

"Ok, now, um...try pressing your hands together a little bit?" His nervous voice was not filling Makoto with confidence, but she complied, flinching away from the Frei as she pressed down on it. It began to fizz and, yes, slowly shrink.

"Ok, yeah, see! We got this, just keep- uh, keep doing that." Ryuji grinned and looked Makoto in the eyes, still crouching in front of her magical explosive like it totally wasn't going to kill him if she let go. Haru had also inched closer, peering at her with wide eyes, but Ann and Yusuke were still forcing themselves against the bar in a mad panic.

The ball shrunk. At its biggest it was a volleyball, but now it was more a kid's football, then a tennis ball, and eventually nothing. Fortunately, no one was hurt by any explosive.

Unfortunately, Ryuji and Makoto were hurt when she lost consciousness for a second, falling toward Ryuji and onto the floor.

"Oh! S-sorry, I'll just-" she crawled off of him after waking back up straight away, far too exhausted to stand and walk properly right now. The others were on them in seconds, Ann helping Ryuji up, Yusuke sitting with Makoto. Futaba cautiously inched down the stairs, and helped to restore the somewhat trashed Leblanc with Haru. The minute it looked passable, and Makoto could sit herself on a booth seat, the pint-sized hacker was on her.

"First! Give a warning before you try any, and I mean, ANY magic stuff! Second!" She whipped round to Ryuji, who had been sipping on his soda to calm down, and was now showing a wide eyed look of fear at the sudden attention. "'Round of applause to Ryuji for being the only one of us to not lose his shit!" There was a few beats of silence until she, Yusuke and Haru went into quiet applause.

Ryuji went very red, rubbing the back of his neck and muttering about how it was 'no big deal.' But Makoto, still just half conscious from the simple exhaustion of holding back a nuclear attack for so long, knew that what had just happened was a very big deal indeed.

Ann brushed her fingers against her arm, looking at Makoto with a sad smile and sweetly concerned eyes, nothing like the fiery rage she had been on the receiving end of a moment ago. "Are you ok?"

Makoto swallowed. Their eyes were on her again. The substitute, who just put them all in mortal danger. She shuddered and leant back against the booth. "No."  
  


* * *

Fortunately, after some basic agreement to not use their newfound powers anywhere and to break for the day (as their strategist was firmly out of commission), the team got swept up in rescuing their leader. And, after a few weeks worth of going fire and brimstone against the legal system, his horde of confidants managed to get him out of juvie in time for a nice house warming party.

Well. Cafe warming party, but still.

Akira's favourite seat, favourite coffee and favourite people were all in preparation for when Sojiro would bring him home. When the door opened with an accompanying chime the whole table of ex-Phantom Thieves sprung up and ran at their leader.

Finally safe. Finally home. Finally, Morgana decided to show up as well.

After the party, hugs, tears, and anger at his "giving up visiting hours" stunt, Akira also explained that he was more than aware of the whole "we've got powers now" detail.

"Really," Akira said as he nonchalantly sipped his coffee, "I accidentally plunged the whole ward of solitary into darkness with an Eiha, not kidding. They couldn't figure out the 'odd power surge' for weeks!" He gave a little laugh, because all of his actions had been a lot smaller and weaker since he got back, but the team was still amazed nonetheless. Morgana nodded, having previously explained himself and settled into Futaba's lap as they all swapped stories. The non-phantom thief confidants had already left, as the night was getting on for most of them. Poor adults.

"I was sort of worried this might happen." The group swivelled round to look at their not-cat companion. He shifted, more than a little uncomfortable.

"When the Metaverse was collapsed, the shadows and cognitions collapsed with it. But your powers are still attached to you, so...it's sort of like they've been squashed down, and parts of have popped out onto our side too. If there was another place for you to summon your Personas, it would be normal, like before, but in the real world you're...going to risk some side effects." He looked up with a pair of guilty blue eyes. "If I had known, I definitely would've come back sooner!"

Haru smiled. "It's ok! I've only burst one vase with gunfire so far, and that's easily replaceable!"

Akira coughed into the silence. "Um, Noir? I don't think that's considered 'fine?'" Ann mumbled something into her fresh chocolate crepe, and Makoto and Akira both swivelled round to her.

"Oh god, what did you do?" Makoto said incredulously.

"Eh-heh. Um. Totally didn't burn through my maths textbook yesterday night! That's for sure." She matched it with an ashamed smile, and stuffed her mouth with a bite of crepe.

"I've been teleporting round places!" Futaba yelled proudly at a quickly despairing Makoto. "Fast travel makes real life soooooo much easier, you guys."

"Futaba, what if someone sees you!?" Makoto cried. Futaba shot her a sharp-toothed grin. "Well, Queen, I'm pretty sure someone would've seen us if you blew up Leblanc last week."

Makoto clamped her jaw shut, and Akira looked toward her and raised an eyebrow. "You nearly blew up...what, Queen?"

Morgana sighed as Futaba and Makoto started arguing, with Ryuji and Ann adding in their helpful commentary. He crawled away from Futaba and situated himself between Yusuke and Haru. They looked down on him with smiles.

"You're all going to need so much training..." he grumbled.


	2. Ryuji

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Round two! Constructive criticism appreciated! (Also, this is just a whole chapter of Ryuji x Makoto, so be prepared for fluff.)

Ryuji was the first to cause some...problems.

It was a pretty normal Sunday for him. He and Makoto, begging for a distraction from his third year at Shujin and her college classes in the police academy, had both started spending their Sunday mornings at Inokashira Park together, jogging round the edge of the pristine lake and towers of greenery. They were often accompanied by a herd of fellow dog walkers and morning runners, until they broke free into the more urban parts of the city, a route they agreed on to challenge them more than the simple park run.

Well, the enhanced endurance was probably part of finding that easy, but still. They need to be challenged, damn it!

Eventually, the summer heat became overpowering, and although William's mini heat resistance helped Ryuji out, Makoto was gasping and flushed halfway round their normal route. He opted for a break, and the two folded onto a shaded bench in a residential street.

Makoto gulped greedily from her water canteen, whilst Ryuji wiped sweat off his forehead using his t-shirt. Eventually, he turned to her. "You ok there, Queenie?" She gave him a half-hearted glare at the nickname.

"I would be fine, if not for what the drills at the academy were putting me through..." she cracked her neck before leaning back, giving Ryuji ample time to note exactly how toned his senpai had gotten since the gruelling police training work-outs. He looked away hurriedly, and chugged some water to hide his face. She had been buff as hell before, but...God, why the hell was he so embarrassed about it? Attracted. He was still attracted to her, even now.

He had decided a long time ago to not act on his long-term crush. 

Actually, no. Crush wasn't the right word - that just made him think of schoolyard shit. He was head-over-heels in love with her. She was so calm, collected, smart. Terrifying on the battlefield, or even in arguments. She was dedicated to just about anything she decided was worth her time, when he found it hard to stick with a math textbook for longer than a few minutes. She was everything he could never get his head wrapped round. But she was just too good, too out of his league, too far ahead of him. She deserved someone that matched her, like the cool-headed, confident police officer she was bound to meet during her fancy college course. And when that happened, Ryuji would smile and congratulate them, and not make things awkward over feelings that would never go anywhere.

Didn't stop him admiring from afar, though.

"How's your third year at Shujin going?" She huffed out. Ryuji rolled his eyes. 

"God awful without you, Akira and Haru there. Schoolwork still sucks." Makoto nods, already knowing this, because it was a pretty big subject of their post-workout cool downs. "Not to mention me and Ann are tryin' to get Futaba to branch out and away from us more, which is a shitton of work." Makoto hummed in thought. "What?"

"The fact she's even attending public school is a major step up. She can take her time with actual socialising, I guess." Makoto turned to him, still red-faced from exertion, with a look of curiosity balanced across her features. "I wonder if she'll start dating anyone?" 

Ryuji barked out a laugh. "Datin' the younger sister of our group? They'd have to get through about seven different tests before they got a first date." He grinned at the image. Poor them.

"Eight." Makoto added slyly. "Sojiro would sure have something to say about it." They both laughed, partly in amusement, partly in fear because whatever Sojiro cooked up for Futaba's future partner would be horrific. He did work for the government, after all. 

Ryuji looked at Makoto again once they had settled. He gulped, hating his brain for supplying this question, but the words rolled out of him anyway. "What about you?"

"Hm?"

"Have you started datin' anyone?" He hated his voice. Why couldn't he at least sound casual about it, and not like some hopeful little puppy?

Makoto picked at the edge of her workout-tank. "Would you have a test for them as well?" 

"Obviously." Ryuji responded immediately, even if his heart was splitting down its veins. "Only the best for our Queen."

Makoto looked down the street, at a toddler that was munching on some ice cream from a convenience store whilst his mother hastily mopped at his face with a tissue. "Well, I'd do the same for you. Only the best." She turned back and took a swig from her bottle again. "I'm not, by the way."

"Oh." God, that sounded dumb, even to Ryuji, but he was too guiltily pleased to worry about it properly. "That's...well, people are missing out."

She turned back to him. The space between them on the bench was very noticeable, all of a sudden. He couldn't tell if he wanted to get closer or shift away. "Since when do you care?" She said lightly. Ryuji frowned at her. The bright, sunny day had illuminated her pale, sweat soaked skin and pursed lips. 

"Whatcha mean?" 

"You've never taken an interest in my love life before." She still had that weird, careful tone about her, like she was tiptoeing round a sleeping bear. They held eye contact for a while, silently challenging each other in the unspoken tension. Red eyes and brown. Ryuji shifted and looked back to his knees.

"Jus' making conversation."

Makoto just carried on pushing. "Nope. You meant something when you asked that. Why do you care? You never once did before." Ryuji resumed eye contact, swinging his legs up onto the bench to face her properly. This had never happened before. Forget the run; the fight was back on and in full swing. 

"Why are you so defensive about it? Got something to hide, Queen?" She scoffs. 

"I am not having this conversation now, Skull." Was she a little red-faced? "But, fine. Yeah. I'm hiding something. Something that I've been trying to share for the past year, but you've been too self-absorbed to notice." They're getting louder now, he knows it, but the space and heat and hidden signals he cannot get a damn hold of are pissing him off too much to care.

"Well, here I am! What's there to hide, Makoto? What am I too dumb to get?" He sneers.

"You are not dumb. You're just...not getting it." She was definitely red-faced, but she had a glare he normally only saw during Shadow-beatdowns; it was welded over her stupidly pretty face and made it hard to think of her as 'cute.' More 'volatile.'

"Ok then, what could you be hiding about your love life? You dating someone from your school?" Silence. "What, Yusuke?" She glares a little more. "Effin' hell, Haru!?" She groans in annoyance and despair, rolling her head back away from the whole mess of a conversation.

He rolled his eyes at her, staring at a blank house the bench was opposite too, and half-jokingly, half-hopefully goes, "Well, it's not me, obviously." 

"Oh my fucking god. Are you serious, Sakamato?" He looked over to her again. The surnames come out when your in deep shit, and Makoto looks ready to murder him. Oh, wait. He blinked at her, his brain short-circuiting as one too many volts span through it. 

"Fine, then." She sneers. Makoto moves forward on the bench, and oh God she's going to strangle him isn't she? But then she grabs him by the neck, and pulls him down to her level in an awkward, still-mad jerk. And then they're kissing, on a bench, in broad daylight, still sweaty from their run and the adrenaline of their half-argument. 

If he had short-circuited before, Makoto took a damn hammer to his system with that kiss, and by the time he had kicked into gear enough to put his hands on her waist, they were splitting apart for air.

She thumps her head on his chest. "Finally..." she sighs, almost laughing. Ryuji just gapes at the top of her head. 'I love you' and 'can we do that again, so I can take it in properly?' And 'holy shit' were all running through his mind at a sprint, but the words that come out of his mouth were;

"Me? The dumb guy?" Makoto, now hugging him with limp arms, lifted her chin up to look him in the eyes, a concerned look on her face. "You're not dumb." She repeats. "And yes, you. For a while, now, but...yeah. That's why I've been going on these runs, trying to find the right way to tell you." She coughs awkwardly. "That, was, uh...not the plan, for reference." Ryuji just blinked at her, fully sure he's hallucinating from heat stroke.

"But... you could have literally anyone. You're smart, and obviously gonna be successful in the future. Like...what?" She pouts at him now, and oh god he is so completely screwed if that's gonna to become a regular thing.

"I want you. You have so much energy, and you care about everyone so much. And, well, you're pretty good looking. Are you... um, ok with that?" She begins to pull away a bit, as if just realising how hard she was hugging him, but he grabs her face and kisses her a second time before he can second guess himself.

And this time, this time, he's here for it, and actually leading the kissing whilst she gasps into his mouth a little, and blue fire rushes out from around his feet without realising it. By the time they've pulled apart, the lights of the stores and houses around them are dark.

Makoto laughs once she's able to form sounds. "Ok then. Well, I-I guess that...Um." She can't look him in the eye, and Ryuji thinks that this was a much better improvement from when she was glaring at him in frustration. Then they hear the shouting.

"What the hell!" A man in an apron from the convenience store is talking hurriedly with another store owner. "Did the whole block go!? I've got refrigerators going!" The other one seizes up in panic. 

"Oh god, our freezer isle is gonna be screwed!" He runs down the street to his own store, and the original one leaps back into his own to save his precious summer-goods. The mother is tapping on her phone blankly, clearly confused by a lack of response, whilst her toddler pulls on her shirt for attention. Ryuji and Makoto are silent, until she whispers:

"I have that much of an effect on you, Ryuji? A whole block?" She wiggled her dainty eyebrows at him, and he grabbed her round the waist in retaliation. "Hell yeah, you do. But uh...we should probably get to my place now? Before we get caught by the police for screwing with the grid?" She gets up, and pulls him along through an alley, complaining about having to train him to be better controlled.

And Ryuji thinks, when she grabs his hand and kisses at his neck before giggling, that there are worse people to have teach you. 

It was worth it in exchange for missing out on a run, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ryuji: I'm dumb and will probably never find love.
> 
> Makoto, setting up a PowerPoint of reasons she and everyone loves him: counter point 1 of 70, you are-
> 
> But seriously, there is so much that could be done with this rare-pair. Makoto, wanting to fight against her own ignorance, with Ryuji the rough-and-tumble extrovert? Ryuji feeling dumb and down about himself, with Makoto, who outwardly acknowledges his usefulness and wants to help him study/improve? WORKOUT BUDS??? 
> 
> I have a lot of feelings. Do you? Shout at me in the comments! Hopefully I haven't upset people with this pairing haha! Who do you think is next? 
> 
> And again, thanks for reading! I'm not sure when the next one is coming out, but, well... it's another fluff chapter. That's all I can write, apparently.


	3. Ann

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how I'm churning these out so fast. More fluff with one of the most under-appreciated characters in the game, IMO!

Ann was the first to share it.

She and the Phantom Thieves, plus one grouchy coffee shop owner, had spent most of the day hanging out at Leblanc's attic, in one of their regular meetings. Except that the reason for them being there was far from ordinary - They had graduated from Shujin.

Shujin. Shitjin, rather. If it had a corpse, Ann would've spat on it.

She and Ryuji had done...ok. Pretty good, in fact, especially considering their shared track record for studying. Futaba was groaning that she had been abandoned, but gave congratulatory hugs to the both of them anyway, so she couldn't have been too upset. Yusuke was also celebrating, having officially finished from Kosei a week ago, but he'd decided to lump his celebrations in with the others for simplicity. Understandably, he had done better than the two of them in most subjects.

The whole group had piled treats and congratulations on them all, and even Akira, through the webcam of a laptop, had joked and laughed along with them from his bedroom, worlds away. Seeing him, even on a video call, filled her with a feeling of calm and reassurance. But there was still an element of tension in the room, because the whole group were holding back on their powers, something none of them were really used to in Leblanc. Makoto kept putting her hand on an hyper Ryuji to calm him down, and Haru was even more quiet than usual, speaking only when spoken to. Even Sojiro, with no direct powers to hold back, spoke in slightly clipped, short sentences.

And this singularity of behaviour, this odd motivation in their group, was coming from Shiho.

Sat, primly, in the booth seat between Ryuji and Ann, with her perfect ponytail and cooling cup of coffee, Shiho had broke away from her normal schedule to spend a girl's weekend of shopping, fun and refined-sugar-based treats with Ann. An entire group of Phantom Thieves skirting around her was not part of the equation.

It's not like there was much to hide, anyway. When Ann summarised what had happened to Kamo-shit-a, and then gone red faced and dodged around Shiho's questions about what she'd been doing the past year...well, she was pretty sharp. Or Ann was particularly bad at lying. Probably both. The one thing she hadn't spilled to her best friend was how exactly they carried out their heart changing - or the real world powers they'd been gifted since.

So. Voila. A bushel of superpowered teens in one coffee shop, trying desperately to prove that they weren't explosive whilst small-talking with Shiho, the biggest motivation behind their first ever heist.

Ann had made it about halfway through the celebrations when she feigned tiredness and stole Shiho away onto the subway. The group had all tried to get them to stay, even Akira, pouting and begging like he was in a terrible romance manga, but even she could feel the relaxation spreading around the team as the door to the cafe closed. She cracked her neck, took Shiho by the hand, and cleared away any questions with the promise of crepes back at her place.

* * *

"Really?" Shiho deadpanned, an impressive expression to make when your upper half was dangling off of a bed. "Makoto and Ryuji got caught by Futaba? Poor them." She laughs, and dropped a bit of chocolate cream into her mouth whilst Ann giggled into her own sweet strawberry delectable, slumping on the floor. 

"I know. They'd been ripped to shreds by our resident gremlin before we even got a chance!" Shiho grinned at her.

"Isn't that how you and Akira got found out? What, is it a habit with you people, or we're you two just bad at hiding it?" Shiho wiggled her eyebrows, but Ann just rolled her eyes.

"Please, it wasn't that bad! And..." Ann took a long lick of some cream off her finger, looking her friend in the eyes, "I think we're going to be much, much worse when he finally comes back in a few weeks." She winked.

Shiho almost coughed up her crepe, red-faced and laughing as she sat up. "God, are these the one liners you'd give out before?" Ann laughed at her. 'Before' needed no explanation - Ann's mixed feelings about being the resident seductress on their team was a well-worn subject of conversation. 

But for now, Ann just grinned. She had gotten pretty good at it as time went on. Better than her math results, at least.

Shiho rolled herself back onto Ann's bed, claiming as much surface area as possible. She licked some cream off her fingers, and stretched her legs from the ache of walking. She was in good health, but long walks always took it out of her. As Shiho massaged her knees, she decided to voice a subject that had been bouncing around her skull since spending the day with Ann's team.

"I wonder what it would've been like."

"Wuh?" Shiho turned to look at her friend, trying to speak around her last mouthful of crepe. She sighed.

"I mean what would it have been like if I was still...um, around when you guys started the Phantom stuff. I'm pretty sure I would've been part of it, right?" Ann looked at her with sad, lidded eyes and Shiho sighed, creasing her brow. "I mean, I think I had...the biggest grudge w-with, uh. K...ugh, K-Kam-"

"Hey, hey. It's ok." Ann shuffled over to the bed, laying her head on the mattress so she was looking at Shiho face-to-face. The twin tails of her hair flopped over like dead ferrets, giving her a strange look not very similar to the stunning model she supposedly was. Shiho forced herself to focus. "Let's not talk about that part of it, alright? But it is interesting. You one hundred percent would've known about it."

"Yeah..." Shiho forced herself to breathe regularly. She didn't have to talk about it. Ann has given her a perfectly good out. "How do you do it anyway? I mean, did. And I doubt it was normal, criminal methods, yeah?"

Ann gaped at her, and then closed her mouth quickly. Of course, intuitive Shiho, would've figured out that brutal intimidation and blackmail was not their style, let alone impossible for some high schoolers. "Well, yeah. Um...would you take magic as an answer?"

Shiho looked at her, perfectly still, for a moment that stretched itself out long enough. Quietly, she replied "Bullshit."

Ann, seeing an opportunity, gave her a coy, almost cat-like grin. Inside her heart, Célestine purred, pleased at finally getting to share with their closest friend. And, maybe a bit of showing off, but that was besides the point. "Would you like proof, _mon_ _Cherie_?" She cooed.

Shiho sat up with such force the whole bed shook, and Ann's head was dislodged. She grumbled, standing up from the floor, her look of control completely ruined by that slip up, but Shiho's barely-restrained excitement was pretty infectious. "If you are actually magic, I will eat my hair."

"I'm going to hold you to that." Ann remarked whilst looking around her ridiculously sized room. More than enough space for this trick. "Um...but don't freak out, ok?" Shiho rolled her eyes.

"Just get on with it!"

"Oh, fine! God, you have no sense of pacing..." Ann shaked her head, and slowly started circling a hand around her wrist.

Ann finds magic easy. Sometimes too easy; she still almost burns a lot of her stuff when flustered or angry, which really put a damper on Akira's long range flirting (setting your self on fire is, surprisingly, not a good way to have a romantic conversation with your boyfriend). Whilst the others all like to do some special action to get their powers going, like Makoto rubbing her hands together, or Haru extending her arms dramatically, or even her dopey boyfriend having to plant his feet before summoning, in case the kickback decides to knock him down, Ann can just snap her fingers, or will her flames into life.

But for this little trick, she did actually have to move her hands over her wrist to get it going. But still, it didn't take long for the familiar pull of magic in her gut to rise up.

Blue fire streamed around her feet, rising up in little embers that fell back down and disintegrated after a few short seconds. Shiho sat dead still, staring at Ann, as red fire poured from under her fingers, coiling around the ever-shifting palms, before extending down in a shower of flame. It was like a cupful of fire had been poured from her hand, running in a stream to the floor, and before Shiho could even consider the health and safety risks of summoning fire inside a house, Ann was twirling a whip of fire, securely burning around her wrist, the blue fire still spinning upwards from her shoes.

They made eye contact.

Shiho jammed her ponytail in her mouth, and made a show of moving her jaw as if she was chewing on it.

Ann barked out a laugh, dramatically cooing "No, Shiho, not your lovely hair!" Before fully descending into relieved giggles that her friend hadn't sprinted out of the room. Shiho leapt off the bed, and continued leaping around Ann, not getting to close to the coiling flame, shouting "This is so COOL!" With an out of character, childish excitement. Ann grinned at her, and made a show of moving it around, sparks flying off randomly. She had fire-proofed her floor, thank God.

But then the moment was split, as Ann let go of her whip and it puffed into a stream of smoke. She took a knee, hard, all signs of magic prowess gone. Shiho was on her in seconds.

"Are you ok? Ann? Please tell me you're not going into a magic induced coma..!" Ann laughed, and took her hand as she got to her feet again, walking slowly over the bed. That might've been the most emotion the quiet, reclusive girl from Shujin has ever shown since that whole...mess started. She felt like she was supporting Shiho for so long, but now she was literally helping her like an old woman to her bed, all because she went a little too hard. Wow. Friendship is awesome.

Especially when you get to show off your magic fire to them.

When Shiho had finally been reassured that Ann was not about to collapse, they got to talking. Actually talking, it felt like, about the Metaverse, skipping over Kamoshida to the other assholes Ann got to burn; the team's powers; the real world translation; Morgana, Akechi, Kasumi; that time they killed a God (much to Shiho's anger at how she literally missed the end of the world). It was so good, to finally give Shiho the information that her friends were so reluctant to give her. Because Shiho - her Shiho - was trustworthy enough for it. She knew.

Yeah, that feeling of trust? It evaporated once Ann had finished the story.

"So...do your powers make you extra...hot?" Ann stilled.

"No," she hissed at her friend. Shiho grinned at her - evil. Pure evil.

"Really? I would've said you were... smoking." Ann groaned into her palm. "Maybe I should call Akira to double check that analysis?"

"Absolutely not! You two together, God, I already get 'hot' puns enough from him and the others! You do not need to do that as well!" She was pleading now, but, foolishly, she had given Shiho a new angle to attack.

"Oh, so Akira also thinks you're the hot one? Maybe I shouldn't be saying all this stuff about you, then, he might get jea- AGH!" The last sentence was cut off by a pillow getting tossed into Shiho's face. The whole ordeal devolved into a pillow fight.

And that night, Shiho having been fully lectured about the innings of the Metaverse by Makoto and Morgana (through Haru's phone) via group chat, Ann thanked every star for giving her this girl to be her friend.

What forced her into Thievery was awful. But now, with that place behind her, and having dragged the best people out from it by their hands, she could never feel more grateful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My love for Shiho as a character came largely from Mirror Mystic's 'Tailwind' series (and all their fantastic writing afterwards), so if you want an excellent writer with plenty of P5 stuff, please go check them out!  
> Also, wasn't sure how I wrote the whole Kamoshida trauma parts. Does anyone have any strong opinions? Please tell me if you do!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	4. Futaba

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait on this one! College, unfortunately. Anyway, this is probably the biggest time jump in this fic, and it includes a setup for... well. A setup, that you will get to see eventually ;^)
> 
> Provided college doesn't beat me to death with homework first.

Futaba made use of it.

Futaba knew she couldn't jump twenty feet or chuck a car over her shoulder. She couldn't make fire, or ice, or explosions. She couldn't heal. Really, if anyone else was in her shoes, they would probably be jealous. Very jealous.

But not her. Futaba found herself shrugging at Ryuji and Akira's attempts at showing off, or Haru's casual levitating of teacups and books like gravity was just a social construct she could bypass. Because Futaba could do her stuff, and they could do theirs.

She could sense how people feel to a brilliantly detailed degree; her ability to hack was even more monstrous than before; she could form barriers, when she really concentrated, and she could teleport a pretty decent distance. That was damn cool in her book. Who needs to jump around twenty feet around when she can will herself to materialise in a location a little distance away? Who needs explosions when you can doxx someone with brainwaves?

And this was cool for the first while; never being late to class, figuring out ways to sidestep when people were too angry for their own good. It was as if she had grinded for that whole year of Phantom Thievery and the buffs were only coming through during her school years. But, when she was finishing up her IT and Cyber Security college course, and staring at blank CV templates (yes, God, college and a job! She was so old. A Sojiro in the making), something new happened.

She felt a shadow.

Miles away, below the surface of Tokyo, was a single, pulsing reading that she hadn't felt in literal years. When she first sensed it, the pressure it caused was so unexpected that she groaned in pain and clutched her forehead, as if it were about to pop off if she didn't hold it down. So now she was in her room, trying to figure out how the hell a Shadow had popped up in the real world, how many painkillers she's actually meant to take, and how to go around telling the group. They all looked back on their times as Phantom Thieves as a 'good' experience, especially her, considering...well, the alternative. But fighting Shadows again? The danger? The risk? The second they were all achieving things in their new lives, the future they had fought for, these monsters slam back into their lives...She would have to word this carefully, to soften the blow a little, because they had all put a lot of effort into making sure this would never have to happen again.

And then, because life was always going to pull the gaming chair from under you, her phone rang.

The objective, sensible, technologically aware Futaba knew she should never answer an unknown number. Businessmen? She had no businesses to worry about, thanks. Try Haru. Creepy strangers? No thanks, unless they wanted to have all their personal details emailed to the closest police force. But...

The 'no caller ID' spoke to her, oddly. Why now? A random number, calling a Persona user, after a shadow reappears not twenty minutes ago?

 _Intuition is a powerful tool of ours_. Futaba shivered as Al Azif lent against her heart. If they were voicing themselves, then it was probably a serious matter. Against her better judgement, but following instinct, she grabbed her phone, set an audio recorder on her computer up, and pressed the green 'accept' button.

"It feels so strange, doesn't it?" The quiet, watery voice was so soft that Futaba felt herself staining to hear it. She pressed the speaker button and turned up the volume.

Wait, "feels strange"?

"I'm sorry, who is-" A light chuckle slipped out, silencing her about as politely as someone could.

"Don't worry, Futaba. I mean you no harm or malice. I'm afraid I don't have the permission to disclose my identity yet, but for now I just want to chat. Is this ok?"

Futaba wanted to yell, _nah, not really!_ Or maybe some bravado, Feathermen-esque line like _don't hide behind a phone, you coward!_ But before she could figure out how to get her mouth moving, the woman continued. Dangit, how is she so good at that?

"Tokyo was intense for a while, hm? I felt it whenever I focused on that area, which was regularly when back when I was asked to monitor the Shadow activity... unfortunately, for the people who sell migraine medicine!" She gave off another light giggle, and Futaba laughed along for a second too, before hurriedly stopping herself. She just admitted that she knew about the Thieves, Futaba! "But, that reading which just popped up...our monitors picked it up, but they didn't need to bother - I nearly fell out of my seat. I imagine it was the same for you, yes? Are you ok?"

There was genuine concern laced in her words, but the double questions gave off a little more insight. Al Azif nodded along with her - the woman was desperate for connection, for confirmation, that they were the same. It's like she had finally found an equal and was begging to share notes. She shuffled in her chair, trying to remind herself that, no, she didn't know who this woman was, even if they thought they had something in common.

"I'm fine, just a headache," she said lightly, to which the woman hummed in agreement. "But, um... You're not making it sound like you're in Tokyo right now, so how can you sense that Shadows? How do you even know about Shadows?"

The woman went quiet. Then she sighed deeply. "I can't disclose that. Sorry."

The conversation stalled. Futaba blinked at the audio recorder and the CV templates across from her. Who was telling her what she could and couldn't disclose? Why in the hell were they interested in a recently graduated college student, aside from the obvious? A person big enough to have restricted information should have other people they can turn to. "You called me for a reason."

An acknowledging hum. "What is it, then?" Futaba pressed. 

"Well. A good thing, of course! Like I said, we aren't here for malicious reasons. But before we do..." There was hesitation in her voice, unlike the quiet, persistent steamroll that had been cutting off Futaba at the start.

Ugh. Why did people have to be awkward? She had that in spades! Even now! She sighed a little, saying to the silent phone, "What? Just ask."

A few more beats of silence. Then, "Do you have any memories of your mother?"

Her phone slipped out of her hand.

Every time! Every time she thought she had this random-as-hell conversation figured out, something was said that tripped her up! How was she meant to be a cool, collected negotiator when someone tosses an emotional landmine like a dead parent at you? She gripped the table with both hands, breathing as evenly as she could, to try and calm down.

"Futaba? I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that question, forgive me, it..." the woman, her pleading voice coming from her feet, came back into Futaba's hearing. "It's just, I used to work with her, and she said she was going to introduce you to me, before...well before." She fumbled for her phone. "And, well, soon I wanted to reach out to you but, by then, I couldn't find you. You simply disappeared. I just...now that we were talking I thought now would be the chance to... to finally meet." The emotion and panic and feeling of longing could've been felt without Futaba's powers. The woman was genuinely freaked out about how she was reacting; it wasn't unfounded. Futaba couldn't get herself to speak.

Futaba swallowed once more. "Great." God, that sounded hollow even to her. "But I don't even know your name, let alone if you were my mom's friend."

The woman agreed instantly. "Yes, yes...god, ok, obviously, me. Right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dropped that on-"

"Why did you call me?" Her sharp tone cut her off mid sentence. 2-1, she thought to herself idly. Getting a foot up now, if nothing else.

"Briefly," the woman began, slipping into a businesswoman's voice now that she wasn't on the verge of a panic attack, "I'm here to present an opportunity to you. My leader said that we should hold off on contacting you, unless Shadows were detected in the Tokyo area again. And now, that this has occurred, I have been asked to go ahead with our plan."

Futaba licked her lips.

"We want to give you a job monitoring shadow development and activity in Tokyo, within our group of dedicated Anti-Shadow combatants. This will involve giving regular reports, so that should the situation deteriorate, our security team can respond quickly and effectively. The Director has expressed great hope that you would join our cause; she believes in your power."

Hah. Buttering Futaba up? That might work on Ann or Morgana, but not her.

"Are you sure you aren't just using me?" Her voice was light and playful, like when she teased Sojiro for complaining about back pain, but the weight behind her question was there.

"Oh, we're very genuine. Government funded, but very secretive, which is why you haven't heard of us before. You'd be allowed a meeting with the Director herself, and you'll be working alongside a very nice man from the countryside, with his own abilities!" She seemed very pleased with this last fact, the bright tone of voice shining through the phone. Futaba felt less excited at the idea of a co-worker, but she was too bewildered to properly consider the ups and downs right now. "Oh, and the pay packet... well."

Futaba's ears perked up. "Numbers."

"Oh, a few million yen every month..." she trailed off expectantly as Futaba gagged from shock. Her jaw was hanging off it's hinge, and she only noticed in the reflection of her laptop screen. She flushed with embarrassment; money was _not_ a deciding factor in this, Futaba!

And, a nagging thought was emanating from Al Azif. Her loyal powerhouse was trying to remind her of her own loyalties.

"Why just me? I'm assuming that you know about the...that there are other you could turn to."

"The other Thieves, right? Oh, yes, well. A group of rebels, working for a government organized group? We are willing to keep the option open to them, but would they be keen to get back into the game, with a group like us? And after all, the Director only wants an analyst for the time being." Futaba considered it. They were pretty done with fighting. Even Akira, the show off that he was, seemed more keen to go on movie dates with Ann than to knife up a blob of cognition. Maybe it was a smart idea on their part. "Yeah, I guess not. But if they wanted to?"

"Then preliminary interviews can be held. But for now, you can keep it quiet." She was mediating, effectively, but Futaba was pretty sure there would be a non-disclosure agreement at the end of this.

Curiosity pulled at the edge of her brain again. "What's your name?"

The woman hummed to herself for a few moments. "Oh, fine. Yamagishi. That's all you get, and don't tell the others about my breaching regulation!" Futaba grinned.

"I'm going to dig up every piece of dirt I can on you, Ms. Yamagishi, and if this is a hoax, I will ruin you!" She cackled a little.

"Oh, Futaba." She was cut off again mid laugh. Damnit. "You act as if we haven't already researched you. I look forward to you calling us again, once you've thought over our suggestion... Oracle."

The tease! She hung up immediately, leaving Futaba in the quiet of her room, alone. She looked at her computer screens again.

Monitoring. Government. Shadows. Co-worker. Yamagishi. Oracle.

Mom.

Her head was spinning, and she reached over for the icepack she had abandoned on her desk in her haste, it's cold touch spreading over her head and fanning her motors.

Yamagishi was certain, by the sounds of it, that she would be calling again. And yeah, she probably would, simply because of mom. A friend of her, in the flesh? She had so many questions. But the business proposal...

Are they genuine? Are they better than the Thieves at fighting? Why are they fighting? Are they good people?

She closed the CV templates (because God knows if she would need them anymore), and stopped the audio recording. After checking it wasn't bugged, and labelling it 'Yamagishi 1,' she closed the program and opened a search engine. If nothing else, she could make good on her threat about digging up dirt on Yamagishi. From the sounds of it, she was behind.

She tried to keep the shaking out of her fingers. Excited. She would never admit it to anyone, but without the threat of the unknown and danger breathing down her neck daily, Futaba was feeling steadily more bored as time went on. The college course was easy. Her friends were fantastic, but moving on - to busy jobs in the Police (oh right, she needed to get Makoto a congratulations card!), or getting their degrees or business deals or plans for the future. They all had less and less time to hang out with her; not even Inari.

God, she missed that doof. She was starting to miss them all, and she had only seen Ann and Haru for some shopping two days ago. Life was moving onto bigger things.

So, isn't this sensible? To move onto something bigger as well? Something where she can use her powers? The shadows - because now, as she checked, there were currently three - needed to be dealt with, and a perfect group had fallen into her lap. It was her duty, right?

It was her opportunity. Oracle's opportunity.

"And, really," Futaba muttered to herself, blue fire sparking to life from her fingers, an unnatural multi-coloured light shining around her and illuminating a sharp-toothed grin, "retail was hardly going to work out, right?"

She cackled to herself, and started her work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who guessed it was Fuuka whilst reading? Who wants to guess who Futaba's coworker is? I'll answer in the comments below! Please leave any opinions or advice for me as well - this chapter took a bit to finalise because I wanted to get it right. 
> 
> Also, Futaba's mum and the Shadow Operatives being cooperative is canon now right? Yeah? Ok, cool.


	5. Yusuke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Oh, well almost the whole world is on lockdown. Surely everyone will post fluff to lift people's spirits, right?"
> 
> Hahaha. Ahahahahaha. Ha.
> 
> I'm sorry, I'm giving our favourite art boy some mild trauma for plot, I swear, I'm not that mean normally. Sorry about it being a while as well - my motivation disappeared along with our planet's health, apparently. Hope you enjoy!

Yusuke was the one who found shame in it.

At the start it felt, for lack of a less ironic term, normal. He could make ice now. He was stronger now. Faster, too, when he wanted to be. It was hard for him to view it as anything other than a better blending of Yusuke and Fox; a better form of balance. Wielding ice in one hand was like holding a paintbrush - familiar, comforting, something he knew he could use.

He shared this with Haru one day, on one of their common meet ups, who agreed with his sentiment.

Their friendship was an odd one - it only fully bloomed once the Phantom Thieves had disbanded, like a cherry tree only bearing blossoms after the winter slog of hard work. It started when Yusuke introduced her to a beginners painting class, which he had won two tickets to attend back in college, and believed she would be the most artisticly inclined of their little group. It was painfully simple to him, but Haru had been delighted, and had produced a decent still-life of a fruit basket by the end of their evening. She had thanked him deeply, and returned to his house for tea before eventually retreating to her own home, painting-in-bag carried along behind her.

And from then, Haru dropped by with little treats and bentos for Yusuke, and he would help her with day-to-day problems which "simply needed your most brutal honesty!" Yusuke didn't fully understand this. Under the guise of Noir, she could be plenty brutal herself.

And then they shared more. An evening with all the Thieves in his tiny university studio apartment, to celebrate Yusuke's biggest successful commission to date, had led to Haru and Yusuke being left sharing tea, again, at one in the morning, all comfortable spots accompanied by arms, legs, and pillows. (He had kindly donated his bed to Ryuji and Makoto, but then Akira and Ann had pressed their own rights as a pair who also needed a bed in mock upset, and the debate devolved into all four of them piling into his bed. He was surprised that it hadn't collapsed yet.) They chatted about Phantom Thievery, work, life.

Their failed fathers. Their anger, their sadness.

And from then on, it was hard for Yusuke to view his life without her fluffs of hair in the corner of his vision, quaint music taste, sadistic humor and subtle threats, or even her frankly ridiculous amount of plants. Within months of being independent from his higher education, in a new, still equally tiny studio apartment, Haru looked at the remaining space and claimed it as her own. She said that it was because it was so much closer to the ex-Okumarua Foods HQ (which had been rebranded as Green Earth Food, a healthy catering provider, under the new directors with Haru as a chief investor and honorary member of the board. Yusuke, by comparison, had picked up a job in a local convenience store). The others were not convinced by her reasons.

"Seriously." Ann said on moving day, as she hefted a rack of clothes Haru deemed absolutely necessary over her shoulder, turning to Yusuke. "You meet up, like, constantly. You're both art lovers. She always raves about how much she loves to spend time with you."

Yusuke shook his head. "We all do things like this. Why do you think moving in together is such a big deal?"

In response, Futaba popped out from another stack of boxes, having taken a break from straining to lift a box of books roughly her size. Despite her impending first term at college, she insisted on helping with the move before she headed off. Her current grin was decidedly unhelpful. "Because, she's moving from _this_ ," she waved a spindly arm at the estate Haru was selling, "to live in a tiny apartment with you. Moving down the property ladder for you? Modern romance, Inari!" She cackled as Ann shook her head in dismay, or more likely amusement. Yusuke picked up four boxes, blue flecks coming from his fingertips as his inhuman strength took over.

He strode out of the room, calling behind him, "I'm not helping you with those boxes now, gremlin!" Futaba gasped in horror, and mock-screamed 'nooo!' as Ann's laughs echoed along the stately corridor.

Yusuke shrugged off their comments then. But suddenly, it became hard to ignore her resting her head on his shoulder during a movie, or her insistence that he eat a proper lunch whilst she's with Sojiro (who had offered to teach her some details about coffee brewing, now that Akira had graduated his lessons). Caution was necessary - he couldn't be presumptuous, considering the rocky relationship she had shared with her fiancé, and the horrid effect of fear the long-term control had on Haru. He didn't even know how he felt yet, so he had time. He could just enjoy whatever happy bubble they had settled into, without immediately acknowledging it.

Naturally, that moment was when powers ruined it for him.

Haru and he were walking back from tending to Okumura's grave. Her grief had not shown itself as tears, as had been the norm for many, many years, but it had soaked into her bones, giving her a slouch and an unfamiliarly distant look in her eyes.

Yusuke understood the pain, relatively. To have such churned up feelings about someone who should have been the strongest figure in your life, and never being able to rectify it, was a heavy burden to shoulder. In an effort to lift Haru's, he gave her an offer of making tea back at the apartment. Apparently, most of their conversations took place over tea. They consumed an unhealthy amount.

They chatted, albeit with a lack of the normal back and forth that Haru would provide. At the very least, her attention was on him, with her sweet eyes staring at his face, and the occasional ghost of a smile flowing over her features. She looked radiant, as per usual, with an elegant white dress for mourning and beautiful silver jewellery, but she was just so exhausted that it shattered the image. It was hard to chat normally as opposed to ordering her to bed for rest. And then, mid conversation, she interrupted his complaints about a difficult customer at the convenience store with a simple sentence:

"Do you know I love you?" Yusuke stops. He frowned and turns to her.

"Of course. Love is always involved in friendship, and I think there is plenty of it here, from my perspective at the very least." Haru sighs deeply, and looks at him with fond annoyance.

"No, my foolish scatterbrain. Do you know that I love you, past friendship?" She raised her eyebrows at him, prompting him quite obviously to get the hint. Yusuke froze. What? Love, love? He was never planning to tempt himself with ideas like that with Haru, because of her difficult fiancé. Did he even have a plan of what he thought they could be? Haru was his friend, and of course he cared about her deeply, and had spent most of his free time around her post graduation, always ensured she had her favourite foods and snacks in the fridge and thought her smiles were what heroin addicts must hallucinate about on a daily basis, and-

Oh... oh.

Yusuke opened his mouth in an answer, slowly and dumbly stating "I-I don't think I did. I knew I felt something, but now...I'm under a similar realisation. Haru...Did you I know I was in love with you before I even did?" Her looked at her, the bags under her eyes being slaughtered by a radiant smile.

"I had a suspicion... as did the others." She giggles. Yusuke gapes like a fish, feeling the red flush in his face growing steadily stronger.

"W-well, that's simply unfair! How am I meant to - You are herby forbidden from knowing what I think before I do!" He huffed and crossed his arms, and Haru graduates from giggling to full blown, siren-like laughter. She eventually calmed down, wiping a tear away from her cheek and patted him comfortingly on the arm. He looked up, a pleased smile forming as he forgot his previous hang-ups, and gently held Haru's hand in both of his.

"If it helps, they've been teasing me...well, I suppose 'coaching,' in Akira and Ann's view, but Futaba, Morgana and Ryuji have definitely been teasing. Makoto was insistent that we get on with it ourselves, but..." she looks up shyly, through her lashes like in some pathetic romance manga, as a blush steadily forms its way over her cheeks. "I didn't know if you would reciprocate."

Yusuke nodded. "A reasonable fear, considering how blind I've apparently been." He flicked his tounge over his lips, and tried to steady his quivering intestines. He was fairly sure that they were not meant to feel both hot and cold at the same time, but no matter. He had seen enough pieces of art inspired by this feeling to identify what the cause was. "Love. I think...yes, I love you too Haru."

Haru looked at him with shining eyes, before her mischievous streak flares yet again, aimed at the still partially shell-shocked Yusuke.

"So...should we consummate it?" She may as well have dropped a flash bang on the table. His hands unfurled and slapped the table, shutting his eyes as he threw his head back and making some shocked, vaguely inhuman noise, completely missing the blue sparks dropping from his fingernails. This woman would be the death of him! He half-laughed, half-choked, ready to make some sort of response, when he looks up at Haru -

And sees the ice, stretching from his splayed fingers, in two neat lines across the table, up Haru's elbows and arms, before lacing themselves over her mouth and nose, inching just below her fearful eyes. She was turning a deeper shade of red with every second, her face muffled by his own power. She was straining to free herself, growing more desperate as she attempted to scoot away from the tiny kitchen table.

"Haru!" Yusuke leapt to his feet, panic swirling around his gut. Their powers are linked to emotion, but how did he so stupidly drop his control over one innuendo!? 

Yusuke looked around desperately, before coming back to his senses. He extended his hands, and closed them into fists, shrinking the ice substantially, enough to free her nose. She inhaled and exhaled deeply through her nose, before her eyes flash with multi-coloured light, and the steaming pot of tea floats over. As Yusuke shrinks the ice to nothingness around her mouth, Haru calmly melts the ice solidifying her elbows to the table. When she is finally freed after a brief moment that lasted an eternity, and slightly damp after being dried with paper towels, Yusuke landed in his chair with his head in his hands.

"Oh, Yusuke, I'm fine! R-really, we all should be wary about trying to get a reaction from one another, considering the possible results." She places a hand over his bicep, thinking back to all the times Ryuji and Morgana have accidentally sparked or gusted at one another in a playful argument a tad to strongly, or a flustered Ann setting something alight. Rare nowadays, but certainly possible. Yusuke, however, just groaned into his hands.

"You couldn't breathe, Haru. Because of me! Because of one innuendo! I am abhorrent." Haru opens her mouth to resist that statement, but Yusuke snaps his head back up. She was sat primly on the chair next to him, pretty and neat and...and delicate. What would he have done if he couldn't remove the ice? What would he have done if the ice _had gone into her body somehow_ , and ruptured something vital? He took a single, trembling breath and continued on. "How could I hope to date you when the first romantic conversation we shared has been- been- been mangled by me! We will never be able to look back on this moment happily. You should probably leave before I freeze the whole apartment into an ice cube!"

Haru pouted, and remained sat.

"Stop overreacting. We all do it, our powers are simply...like this. And besides, you quite clearly care, enough to blame yourself for a simple mistake." There was a quiet pause. "I will not leave, Yusuke."

Yusuke swallowed, looking up from his hands to meet her steady gaze. A fleck of ice was still plastered onto her cheek, like a brand. "I solemnly swear to never use my powers near you again. Let me do that, at least." His near pleading tone of voice melted Haru's last piece of resistance. She smiled and nodded, before scooting her chair over to Yusuke and leaning against him.

Whether or not they end up 'consummating' the relationship, they never confess. Akira finds them sharing a greeting kiss before their next meet-up, just outside Leblanc three weeks later (to which they both try to defend themselves by saying that they were never planning to hide the relationship. The tradition is apparently continued regardless). Futaba, the gremlin that she is, video calls whilst being driven to her "new, fancy, very restricted and private job" so she can still torment him personally. She makes up for it by texting her congratulations and offers of relationships advice over text later, though, so Yusuke decides it won't be a black mark against her. But why he would take romantic advice from her of all people, he had no clue. It would be like asking a microscope what Christmas gift someone wanted.

They all, eventually, notice his lack of powers. Ryuji tries to bring it up with him in front of "the guys," meaning him, Akira and Morgana, but Yusuke shut him down cold. Not to be shut out, Ryuji brings it up with Makoto for her advice, who eventually gets the story out of Haru. All of them very politely try to convince him that 'it was only an accident, Yusuke, you can't let it scare you!'

He doesn't bother telling them that he doesn't believe them. He simply doesn't try, and eventually they stop trying as well.

Yusuke never uses his powers around Haru, or anywhere outside of his private studio room. Even the idea of hurting someone because he lost control was enough to send nervous twitches down his fingers and along his spine. Haru purses her lips whenever his anxiety comes up, but helps him relax and reassures him about his powers, hoping that he'll stop fixating on it so strongly. "It's his choice." She reasons, whenever the others question his abstinence from Persona magic.

Eventually, the very idea of using his powers makes Yusuke shiver. Ice and his strength was less of a paintbrush to him now, harmless and expressive, but a katana. A tool for protection and potentially beautiful in skilled hands, but dangerous and unpredictable in clumsy ones.

And if keeping her, his lover and brightest light in life, safe meant missing out on what the others got to indulge in, then....Well. So be it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I mean? I just wanted to give a nuanced view of Real World Powers, because of course not everyone is going to enjoy them 100% of the time. I thought Yusuke, with his passion and firm beliefs, would be the most likely to get affected by something going wrong.
> 
> I hope yall don't hate me.
> 
> ...don't worry, I have a bit more like this planned :D
> 
> Also, can some of you see the start if something else, a bigger project, starting to take shape? I can't promise what or when, but I'm not done with the Persona 5 crew yet!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed!


	6. Akira

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first kid has appeared! I'm getting somewhere!
> 
> Thanks those of you who are still reading, because quite a bit has happened in my life that made writing less of a focus. But I'm getting back to it, slowly.
> 
> But enough about the boring wannabe author; enjoy the family fluff!

Akira decided powers weren't that important.

Obviously, at first, being a super powered human was very entertaining, even more so out in the countryside where he only had to cross one or two fields and be basically isolated. Darken a whole street to get away from some assholes that wanted a fight? Chuck boulders around like golf balls? Glow with the power of a condensed nuclear reactor whilst trying to scare some birds? Akira grinned at what he could do when he was a teen, and revelled in boasting about all of it to his friends over video calls, and when he eventually moved back to Tokyo (to Makoto and Boss' exasperation, considering _they were meant to be a secretive group Akira have you actually been doing all of these things_?).

But now, well...

"Mr. Kurusu?" A nurse in a plain white uniform appeared next to him, with a polite grin on her face. "Congratulations."

Who gave a damn about powers when your son has just been handed over to you? He cradled the little bundle of blankets with a tiny, pink, bumpy face and tried not to burst into overemotional tears. First impressions matter, even to newborns.

"Akira..!" Draped over the hospital bed, in an ill-fitting nightgown and absolutely dead from her hours-long labour, Ann did not match her normal first impression of an up-and-coming radio show host with her bright smile and blinding blue eyes. She was gripping onto the waking world out of sheer spite, refusing to even look away from their baby for an instant, with a slightly panicked look over her face, bathed in the bright fluorescent light. It was a pretty wild look, no where near as composed as she was normally. To be fair, he doubted he looked like a young, professional politician either. "You need to hold his head more, and tuck his feet in the blanket!"

He grinned at her. "Ann, he's fine! Better than fine." And indeed, the baby was much more focused on blinking at Akira with a small, confused expression than what his Mom was rambling on about. He crossed over to the side of the bed, as the nurse shuffled to the other side so she could read some charts and double check...well, who knew what. He sat down and angled the baby so they could see each other better. "You, on the other hand, need to get some rest. How long have you been awake now?"

She grumbled some half insults, mainly because she knew he was right, and shuffled into the bed properly. "Ugh. Ok, let's do do some admin on our friends first. When do the others get here?"

Akira went to shrug, before remembering that he was holding a baby. "Whenever they can, really. Haru and Yusuke are getting here first, I think," Ann winced, and Akira tried not to share it; they both knew introducing a baby to both of them would be...upsetting, but he forged on. "Shiho should be around at the same time, but Ryuji and Makoto have to wait until she's finished her shift and he's done with his lesson. Futaba's away in Iwatodai but she's rushing down with Morgana," Ann snorted, because simply because of the strange duo they made.

Their not-cat had managed to figure out what Futaba's cryptic job was, probably by eavesdropping, he had demanded to be involved and moved in with her; it was hard to picture the two of them coordinating themselves enough to 'rush' anywhere. Akira couldn't help but picture Futaba teleporting the two of them into the nearest sushi bar for a mid-trip snack and getting distracted. Or arrested for being aliens. "And Boss... uh, I don't think he's coming today because he's getting Futaba's room ready. Sumire is still overseas, but sends love and a lot of heart emojis."

Ann nodded, her eyes closed and hair wrapped up into a single bun of minimal effort. She was probably five minutes away from passing out. "I'm so glad he's sticking to that teaching degree. Ryuji, I mean. He's doing so well." Akira nodded in mutual appreciation at their friend's effort. It was taking a hell of a lot of work, and he did miss his bro at times, but it was hard not to be impressed by his new-found dedication to sports coaching. Makoto had been helping him out as much as possible like the good partner-and-also-mom-friend she was. Akira watched the baby's babbling for a bit before his eyes widened in a sharp shock.

"What if he ends up teaching our kids?"

Ann burst out laughing, shocked out of sleep by Akira's comically alarmed face. "Oh my god! Would that be awkward or what?"

Akira laughed along and adjusted the baby again. "Parent teacher evenings."

Ann went into another peel of laughter, amused at the idea and a little horrified. The nurse drifted back over into view, her own smile mirroring the happy scene. "As much as I hate to break this up, I do have a birth certificate to fill out. Have you decided on a name yet?" She tried to go on to explain what would happen if they weren't exactly sure, but the two of them cut her off with a joint phrase.

"Nobuyuuki Kurusu."

The nurse nodded, and scribbled along on a birth certificate before getting them to sign as well. Ann settled back into bed, closing her eyes and trying to get back to sleep with a slight frown on her face. The nurse walked back along the length of the room, but Ann spoke out as she reached the doorway.

"Um, excuse me...can you turn the lights down at all? I wouldn't mind sleeping for a bit before some of our visitors get here, but it's sorta bright..."

It was certainly more than 'bright,' and Akira had been feeling the stinging effects of those severe LED's for as long as he'd been in the room (he was, for some reason, never able to shake his real-world light weakness, despite Sataneal's affinities and his many other Personas to rely on). The nurse gave a pained smile.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Kurusu, those lights are automatic. We are having switches implemented, but for now there's nothing we can do about them. Would you like me to get you a sleeping mask?"

Nobuyuuki shuffled and whined in his blanket, and Akira thought he might be picking up on Mom's pained face. Akira certainly was - she had just gone through _labour_ , was about to meet a bunch of her friends pretty soon after, and just wanted a few minutes rest in between; she couldn't even do that in peace. Ann's face had gone half-crumpled as she tried to hold onto some last composure, but Akira replied first.

"No, don't worry, we'll be fine." He smiled at the nurse from behind his glasses, and straightened his stuffy, too-tight suit collar (not his choice, he was still at work when he got Ann's panicked call 5-and-a-bit-hours-ago) and she nodded before retreating out of the room.

"Akira, what are you planning?" Ann was staring at him with tired, half lidded eyes, and he hated how damn exhausted she sounded. That wasn't very rational, of course, the labour and pregnancy was all for getting Nobuyuki into the world and both of them would die ten times over for him already; but still, Akira felt somehow responsible for his wife's suffering. 

Ann kicked him limply. "Stop brooding, you emo." She smiled at him, and Akira smiled back.

"Don't worry, sweetums," followed by a groan of annoyance as she tried to kick him again, "I'll deal with the lights. You sleep." Akira stood up, readjusting the baby as they went.

Nobuyuuki gurgled in his arms, and popped an arm out of his blankets. Akira chuckled and gave him a finger to grip onto, as he walked around the bed under the lights. Akira breathed in and looked up at them, before planting his feet and concentrating. Blue fire flared up around him, and a black mist generated itself around the bulbs, muffling them into a much quieter source of gentle, fuzzy light. Nobuyuuki whined in surprise, and Akira was worried he had upset him - _what were you thinking you decided to use your powers whilst holding a newborn you dumbass_ \- before the baby reached out and followed the sparks with a tiny flame, gurgling happily.

Akira grinned down at him. "You like that? Dad's pretty cool when he's glowing, huh? Not that I really should be doing this in front of you, but, well..." he looked behind him, and saw Ann, finally asleep on the pillows. "I'm sure I can share it with you once."

Because that's what they had decided. Their group, their _in_ , had all agreed that any kids or other possible spouses or friends should be kept in the dark about their Thief days. The less they implicated them, the safer they would be, from authorities and from other potentially mind-bending worlds of dangerous magic. Akira had advocated it, and they all agreed it was the best option. But the rebellious side that had never really left hated constraining them all like that.

Would Nobuyuuki care? Really? Would any of their future friends? They could be superheroes for all they cared-

No. Stop that. You know the implications of getting other people involved.

Nobuyuuki was babbling in a close approximation to laughter, and Akira grinned. He sat down in the chair and cooed over him. "You like that, huh? Magic is pretty damn cool. You wanna see some?" He babbled more. "Yeah, I know, I shouldn't, but it'll be our secret, alright?" He planted his feet again, cradled Nobuyuuki - 

And lifted up ever so slightly with a swell of Garu beneath the chair.

The baby wriggled and laughed, reaching out for the blue sparks again with meaty little fists. Akira put the two of them back down and the sparks receded. He went quiet, before starting to cry a little. He shushed him, smoothing out his little head and speaking quietly.

Why stop? He grew mad at himself. The kid likes sparks. He isn't scared, or horrified. What's the harm in teaching him about their time as Thieves, about the powers?

 _Silence yourself, fool._ Satanael rumbled from his heart. Akira stilled, waiting for another line of wisdom, but apparently, that was all the Persona had to say.

...Yeah, ok. He can't. It would be stupid of him. 

He sighed, and walked over to Ann as quietly as he could. She was dead asleep, oblivious. He bent down to kiss her on the forehead. She sighed lightly, and Nobuyuuki mewled, and Akira shushed the annoyed, unreasonable part of him. They were worth anything.

Powers didn't matter. Not compared to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I glossed over a lot of details about this AU here, including jobs and what families would look like, etc. I might clarify any weird aspects either in the comments or in later chapters - so please ask! I might just be stupid and happened to make a pretty big inconsistency, or maybe it's something for the future ;)
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading! I hope everyone's well in the time of Covid, or at least as well as you can be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! By the way, each chapter focuses on a different Thief. Who do you think is next?


End file.
